by Tara Sim
Colton and Zavier arrived at a different room than the one in which Colton had been questioned, but he didn’t ask about it. He didn’t care anymore.
Zavier drew in a breath to say something, but in the end merely shook his head and, with a sigh, opened the door. He motioned for Colton to enter.
Colton complied without complaint. The sooner they got this over with, the better.
Danny stood as soon as the door opened. He’d been sitting on the edge of the settee, foot tapping impatiently on the faded cream rug, heart beating a nervous rhythm in his chest. His pulse drowned out all other sound. All that existed of him was the loud thump thump in his ears.
Until he saw him.
Colton walked into the room and stopped. His eyes were wide, his face strangely pale. But those eyes—they were the same amber shade, bright and otherworldly.
The door closed behind him.
They stared at each other, incapable of anything else. Colton’s blond hair was disheveled, his stance wary. And his clothes. Danny realized with a blush that they were his own clothes. Colton took him in with the same strange look on his face that must have been on Danny’s own. They stayed like that for some time, neither saying a word as they took stock of the other—noticing what was the same, what had changed.
Finally, Danny took a tentative step forward, and Colton mirrored the action. Another careful step, and another. Fear gripped his throat, choking his breaths and stinging his eyes. He was terrified this would end in a puff of smoke, that he would wake up in bed and find he was alone.
But when he raised his hand and touched it to Colton’s cheek, there was no puff of smoke. No jolt awake. Danny exhaled a shaking sigh and lifted his other hand to frame Colton’s face. Colton trailed his fingertips down Danny’s cheeks, across his jaw, over his throat.
For a long while they stood there, leaning their foreheads together, Danny’s breaths warm on Colton’s mouth. They had been the same height before Danny left. Now Danny was an inch taller. Even that small difference hurt.
Colton put his hand on Danny’s chest. Over his heart.
“Danny,” he whispered.
“Colton,” he whispered back.
Just like that, the spell was broken and Danny kissed him with all the force of his relief. They clutched each other tighter, harder, until it was impossible to breathe.
The world tipped and spun and danced. Lights exploded behind his eyes. Time wrapped Danny in its comfortable sleeve, forcing him to be aware of their bodies, the airship, the ground miles and miles below. And Colton’s lips, urgent and familiar against his own.
“Danny,” Colton murmured against his mouth between kisses, as if he could only subside on the shape of his name, the feel of his lips. “Danny.”
Happy, dizzy, Danny didn’t dare tell Colton to stop. His need for air was overlooked until he forced himself to break away, gasping. Alarmed, the spirit guided him to sit on the settee and knelt before him. Spots swam in his vision, but he kept his eyes open on Colton.
“Sorry, forgot you had lungs. Are you all right?” Colton asked.
Danny nodded with a laugh that startled him for its brightness, its ringing, golden sound. “Yes. Yes, I’m all right.” He swept back Colton’s hair and kissed his forehead. “I’m all right, now.”
He didn’t know he was crying until Colton wiped a tear away. Danny rubbed a sleeve across his eyes. “You’re really here.”
Colton smiled weakly. “So are you.”
They laughed. Their hands drifted together, their eyes locked. Then Colton began to unfasten the top of Danny’s jumpsuit.
Danny wasn’t sure whether to stop him or not. He sat frozen while Colton unbuttoned the jumpsuit down to his navel, pulled his arms through, and slid his undershirt off his body. Danny’s heart beat even faster—until he realized Colton’s intent.
The spirit’s eyes landed on the bullet wound. Sadly, gently, he traced the skin around it with a finger.
“I saw this happen,” Colton whispered. “I tried so hard to get to you, but you ran, and …”
Danny had seen him there. He hadn’t just dreamed it. That moment had been a sword above his neck, inching closer, about to cut him no matter which direction he ran. He’d had no choice but to turn from Colton, from his outstretched hand and the promise of safety, to save the viceroy from assassination. It had been painful enough, being shot; what hurt worse was that Colton had seen the whole thing happen.
“I’m so sorry.” Colton leaned in and kissed the wound. Danny shuddered. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.”
“Colton.” Danny buried a hand in the spirit’s hair. “You traveled all the way to bloody India for me.”
“But it still wasn’t enough. I didn’t get there in time to do anything useful.”
“Wait.” Danny leaned back a little. “Why did you come to India? I heard about Enfield being Stopped, but I thought you were in London. With my parents.” Pain blossomed behind his breastbone as he wondered if he would ever see them again, or Cassie.
Guilt flashed in Colton’s eyes. “I was.”
“So why did you come after me?”
“The note. I found it in your room. The one that said you were being watched. And when I was in London, I got one, too. It said you were in danger, and that if I wanted to save you, I needed to come to India. They … They sent a photograph. Of you. Of someone pointing a gun at you.”
Danny paled. Suddenly cold, he put his undershirt back on and pushed his arms through the sleeves of the jumpsuit.
“And this?” He touched the contraption on Colton’s back.
“It holds the cogs I took with me from Enfield. Your father helped make it. I’m so sorry I left them, but I had no choice.” He brushed a thumb over Danny’s collarbone. “I didn’t want them to hurt you.”
“Well, they seem to be pretty decent at it.”
Colton looked up sharply. “What do you mean?”
“You must have realized by now. They didn’t lead you here to save me. They need leverage. If I don’t do what Zavier says, he’ll harm you. And he knows that hurting you is …” Danny swallowed. “He knows I’d never let anything hurt you.”
“You shouldn’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”
Danny laughed, but this time the sound was bleak and gray. He hid his face in his hands. “You don’t understand.”
“What don’t I understand?”
The tone was bitter, challenging. Danny dropped his hands and stared. Colton stared back. There was something new about him, something different. An awareness in his eyes that hadn’t been there before.
“I just meant that you don’t know the whole story.”
“Then tell me.”
Danny closed his eyes and the words tumbled out—Zavier’s plan, the missions, the way Danny had been pulled into everything—all because of what he’d done to stop Matthias in Enfield over a year before.
When he opened his eyes again, Colton was on his feet, standing a few feet away. His eyes were fixed on nothing, his face blank.
Frightened, Danny stood. “Colton—”
“You went with them. You went to the tower they destroyed.”
“Not willingly! I don’t want them to do this, but I have no choice. Zavier’s forcing me to do this because of you. If I don’t, then they’ll do something to you, or your tower, or Enfield. And Zavier said—” He pressed his lips together, hating himself even for saying it out loud. “Zavier said that if I do these missions, he’ll let you go. He’ll leave Enfield alone, and tell the Indian rebels to leave it alone, too.”
“And if Aetas really is imprisoned, and not dead? Will your blood be the key to free him? Is that why Zavier wants your secret?”
How did Colton know all of this already? “I-I won’t tell them about the blood.”
“He’ll find out eventually.”
“How?” But Colton remained silent, staring off into nothing again. “Colton, you’re scaring me. What aren’t you telling me?”
<
br /> “If Aetas is freed, then I’ll be gone.”
“No. No, I swear it won’t come to that.”
“Why? Because Zavier promised?” Danny clenched his jaw, and Colton scoffed. “You’re really going to trust him?”
“What’s wrong with you? You’re acting strange.”
“Nothing’s wrong with me.” Now Colton sounded angry. Not irritated, or frustrated, as he had in the past. Angry. At Danny.
“I’m not the villain here,” Danny said.
“Are you sure about that? You’re helping him. You’re going on missions to tear down clock towers, to destroy the spirits who live in them.”
“What do you want me to do, Colton? I have no choice!”
“You do have a choice!”
“Yes—destroy everyone, or destroy everyone but you. Do you really think if I had a chance to save you, I wouldn’t take it?”
“It’s not right!” Colton began to turn away, but Danny caught his arm. He yanked it free.
“What would you do in my place?” Danny demanded. “What would you choose? Would you just let me die?”
“Danny—”
“Would you?”
“I’M ALREADY DEAD!”
The words reverberated off the metal walls. Danny stood motionless as Colton walked to the far end of the room, arms crossed low over his chest.
The silence roared in Danny’s ears. He wanted to speak, but found his voice wouldn’t work.
Finally, Colton turned back to him, his eyes old and tired.
Danny attempted to say his name, but only his lips moved. After a minute, he tried again. “What?”
Colton walked back to him, dread weighing every step he took. “I know the truth now. About the clock towers.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I have to show you.”
Danny shook his head and backed away, but Colton grabbed his arms.
“I’m sorry, Danny.”
The room twisted. Colors faded in and out. Danny saw places and people flash by—far away, remote, like he could run for eternity and still never reach them.
He saw Enfield. Old, small, simple. A man and a woman, and between them, a boy.
The boy had freckles, and his bottom row of teeth was crooked, but when he smiled it was as if the entire room lit from floor to ceiling. His brown hair flopped over his forehead, his blue eyes bright and inquisitive.
The ocean, the roar of waves. A tall, lanky man lecturing about the properties of time and how each and every one of them should give thanks to Aetas. The blue-eyed boy, dripping wet and shivering, bowing to the sea.
It’s Colton, Danny thought in wonder. That boy is Colton.
He saw a girl, sick in bed. Colton tending to her and kissing her forehead, spooning broth into her mouth, reciting stories. His mother crying downstairs, and Colton hugging her tightly. His father broodingly smoking a pipe.
Another boy, tall and handsome, racing into an alley alongside with Colton. They were laughing, their faces flushed, their eyes lit with inner fire. The boy taking Colton in his arms and kissing him deeply in the shadows of the alley.
Danny flinched back. I don’t want to see that.
Colton resting his head on the other boy’s chest as they lay in bed, the boy running his fingers through Colton’s hair. Talking of London, of the future.
I don’t want to see this!
It all came so fast, like spinning in endless circles. Colton testing his blood in a timepiece, eyes widening with surprise. Time distorting. Aetas proclaimed dead.
“This world will end if we don’t find a way to control time.”
“I can only hope our God in Heaven will forgive us.”
“Take him.”
“It has to be all his blood. Every drop.”
No.
Colton screaming, eyes fastened to a knife that glinted in the red light of dusk. The blood. The smell of copper. The pain.
No.
“The throat, too.”
No!
Blood dribbling from Colton’s mouth, staining the cogs underneath him crimson.
NO!
Danny screamed the word as he wrenched himself away with a sob. Falling to his knees, he heaved, but nothing came up.
His vision was black—or maybe his eyes were closed. He pressed his forehead to the old rug beneath him, which smelled dirt and dust. Anything to take away the burning scent of blood.
“Colton,” he rasped. “Colton … Please …”
Danny didn’t even know what he was pleading for. To be told it wasn’t true. To have the memories wiped away.
Colton knelt beside him and put a hand on his back. Danny flinched at the touch.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry you had to see, but I need you to understand what happened, how I became like this. I was human, once. And now I’m not.”
The hand slipped away. Danny took in a shuddering breath and sat back on his heels. “They killed you.”
Colton nodded.
Danny wanted to claw his eyes out. Claw his brains out. Anything to make the memories stop repeating in his mind.
He reached for Colton’s hand and grasped it tightly. “I should have known. All the clock mechanics need to know. Why didn’t you tell me before?”
“I didn’t know until recently. All the clock spirits may have already died, but that doesn’t mean they’re not alive right now, like me. It doesn’t mean they have to be subjected to what Zavier’s doing. They deserve better. Wanting to save me alone is selfish.”
Danny’s voice wavered and broke. “I can’t lose you.”
“You need to stop Zavier.”
“I can’t. If I don’t do this, he’ll—”
“Danny.” Colton paused, as if searching for the strength to push the words out. “My tower was attacked. When I go back to Enfield, it will fall. There’s nothing more he can do to me.” He wrapped his fingers around Danny’s wrists. “Don’t let Zavier do this. We’ll find another way.”
Desperation tightened Danny’s chest. Zavier had already named his price. Danny would help him, and Colton would be spared, even from Aetas. If he didn’t comply, or if he went back on that bargain, they would break Colton’s central cog.
“I can’t,” Danny whispered. “I can’t, Colton. I’m sorry. I can’t.”
He made to grab or hug him, to drive the awful sight of Colton’s torn throat from his mind, but the clock spirit leaned away. There was betrayal in his eyes, and it cut deeper than the knife had.
“Fine.” Colton stood. “Do what Zavier says. Let him control you.”
“You think I haven’t tried stopping him? He promised that you would be safe if I went along with it for now. There’s nothing else I can do!”
Colton’s hands curled into fists. “I promised my sister that I would never leave her. I promised Castor that everything would be all right. Promises are easily broken, Danny. I thought you knew that.”
He left the room without looking back.
Danny didn’t try to follow. He slumped to the floor, shaking so hard his teeth rattled. The spray of blood flashed across his eyes. The sounds of Colton’s screams echoed in his ears.
He lay there and longed for that knife to kill him, too.
The sight of the ocean was like all of Colton’s memories combined. The wind tugged his hair, skimmed the surface of the water. Sand shifted under his feet, and it took all of his control not to fall to his knees and bury his hands in it.
Instead, he bent down and scooped up a handful, allowing it to slowly trickle from his palm, the grains scattering at his feet.
“Make sure he doesn’t bolt,” Zavier ordered the two crew members flanking Colton, Anish and Ivor.
But even had they not been there, he wouldn’t dare leave the gray-crested waves or the clouds overhead, or the gulls wheeling and crying near the rocks. It was too familiar. It felt like home.
He and Castor would have stood here and prayed to Aetas. They would have played in the surf, laug
hing as they hid from Instructor Beele.
You can’t have that anymore, he reminded himself. Zavier is going to use you. You need to focus.
More questions had been asked of him in the last couple of days. As Colton had explained his trip from London to Agra, there was one detail in particular that fascinated Zavier.
“You were able to stay at the bottom of the riverbed for an extended amount of time?”
Colton had just told them how he’d been chased on a train with no other option than to jump. “Yes.”
The young man had exchanged looks with a few of the others. Colton had found this ominous, but didn’t dare ask about it.
He’d found out soon enough. Zavier had told him that the airship would be landing off the coast of South Africa, and they would be making a trip to the ocean, Colton included. Most of the crew were here: Anish and Ivor; Edmund and Prema, who stood watching Zavier with worry; Liddy and Astrid, whispering together; and even Daphne and Meena, guarded just as closely as he was.
And Danny. He stood where Edmund could keep an eye on him, hands bound. The metal looked particularly cruel against the fragile bones of his wrists. Danny swayed slightly, his entire body radiating exhaustion. His face was thin and pale, green eyes trained on the ground. Carefully not looking in Colton’s direction.
They had once talked of going to the ocean, back when they’d spent their days in the musty air of his tower. It had always been an impossible but fond daydream. Now here they were, in the middle of a waking nightmare.
Regret seeped through him. Some part of him longed to run to Danny’s side and hold him tightly, to kiss the cool, pale curve of his cheek and whisper that everything would be fine. But a new part wished to turn his back to him, no matter the pain it would cause them both.
Danny had worried, once, that he was following in Matthias’s footsteps, sacrificing too much for his own personal happiness. Tending to only one rose while the rest of the garden withered. Colton could see now that he’d been right to fear it.
You would do the same.
The thought didn’t help.
Zavier stood before Colton, gray eyes determined. “I know you’re wondering why I brought you here today.”
“For the view, I hope.”
